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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29453175">Happiness (Grab it Where You Can)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/crose84/pseuds/crose84'>crose84</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Rookie (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Future Fic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, hopefully in character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:07:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,580</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29453175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/crose84/pseuds/crose84</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Angela dishes out truth all over the place to Tim and Lucy.</p><p>OR</p><p>Angela gives Tim and Lucy the push they need to confront their feelings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>216</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Happiness (Grab it Where You Can)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first time writing for The Rookie and Chenford. It's my first time writing anything after a long break from fic. I hope I've done this amazing pairing justice. I truly appreciate any feedback for kudos.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim Bradford parked the shop near the food trucks and killed the engine. Instead of immediately getting out to join his colleagues and friends, he leaned back in the seat, resting his head against the seatback, taking the extra moment of quiet even though he had been riding alone since Lucy had made P2. </p><p>Usually, he savored this time between rookies. Enjoyed the time riding around by himself, recovering from the previous rookie while preparing for the next. There had been more than a few times he had found himself counting down the days in the final 30-day push. Holding on just to get to this in-between period. </p><p>She had changed all that though he’d never admit it. To her or anyone. The silence he had pleaded for and craved was almost deafening. There was no more hint of strawberry, her shampoo, maybe, lingering in the shop. No one to fiddle with the radio or the AC when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. Pushing the thoughts away, he stepped out of the shop and into the warm sunshine. </p><p>He blinked when he looked over and registered that Angela was sitting alone at what had been the TO table, leaving the P2s at their old rookie table. They hadn’t sat divided this in recent months. He cast a quick look between Angela and Lucy, giving the latter a brief inquisitive look. She just shrugged slightly in response. </p><p>“We mad at them or something?” He asked Lopez a few minutes later as he dropped his lunch on the table and lowered himself onto the bench across from her. </p><p>She swirled a couple of French Fries through a blob of ketchup and then popped them into her mouth. “Harper was here but disappeared to take a phone call. I was too lazy to move.”</p><p>It was plausible, but he still narrowed his eyes at her. </p><p>She just sighed. “Harper was here.” She grumbled.</p><p>“Angela.” He put just a bit of warning into her name.</p><p>She bought herself a moment by taking a long sip of her drink. “I also wanted to talk to you.” She admitted. “Isabel came to see me.” She pushed the words out before she could change her mind about this conversation she’d rehearsed and rehearsed in her head since Isabel had left her doorstep. </p><p>He waited to respond until he was sure his tone would betray nothing of what was starting to roil inside his chest. “How much money did you give her? I’ll pay you back.”</p><p>“No.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. She’s clean still.” Isabel had looked good. More like the woman she remembered from their early days on the force together. More like the woman Tim had loved.</p><p>He hated that the breath he exhaled shook even remotely. “What did she want?”</p><p>Angela looked down at her now empty basket of fries and crumbled the wax paper in her hand before dropping her napkins in as well. “What do you think? She wanted to know how you were. If you were seeing anyone. If you were happy.” She watched his face carefully, but in typical Tim fashion, any response was hard to discern. </p><p>He pushed his barely eaten tacos away. He should have taken an extra few minutes alone in the shop. “We’re not talking about this.” He said finally. He had no room in his mind for this while on shift. </p><p>“I told her I couldn’t speak for you, but that I thought she should leave you alone.” Isabel had broken him, there was no way around that fact. She prayed she didn’t have to watch it happen again.</p><p>“Not your call to make, Ange.” He wanted desperately to reach up and push the heels of his hands against his eyes. He clenched his fists on top of his thighs instead, refusing to show any kind of outward reaction even to Angela, the closest person he had to a best friend.</p><p>Angela just rolled her eyes at him. “She’s not going to take my advice.” She leaned forward into his personal space, resting her forearms on the table, “but I hope you will. Turn her away when she comes to see you.”</p><p>“You had to do this on shift?” His voice was hard but quiet. He didn’t want this conversation to carry to where Lucy was sitting with her friends a few feet away. “You couldn’t wait until later when we were at the bar and I had a stiff drink in my hand?” Not that he would want to hear it then either, but still, whiskey might make it go down a little easier.</p><p>“Because it’s so easy to get you alone at the bar these days?” On any given night he would be catching up with Lucy. Making her recount calls and critiquing her response. “You think I like this? I’m going to say my peace, and you’re going to listen, and then we’re going to forget it happened and never talk about it again. Okay?”</p><p>She waited for a nod in agreement that never came, but he also didn’t move to leave, so she pushed on. “Isabel destroyed you, Tim, and she didn’t have the kindness to do it quickly. She chipped away at you a little at a time, and it was fucking brutal to watch. It took you a long time to move forward, but you did. Don’t go backward. Isabel is clean, and I am glad for that, but just because she has now realized what she lost and wants it back...Just because she’s in a better place than she was the last time you saw her...You don’t owe her another chance. You’re in a better place too. That matters.”</p><p>“You done?” He needed to get away, back to the empty quiet of the shop. </p><p>“I…” She was cut off by the sound of hysterical laughter coming from the P2s.</p><p>The sound of Lucy’s laughter immediately captured Tim’s attention, and he didn’t even try to stop himself from turning to see what she thought was so funny. Her shoulders were shaking with the force of her laughter. Jackson was standing near the table re-enacting something in quite overdramatic fashion. An arrest, maybe? Some viral Tik Tok thing? If they were still riding together he had no doubt she’d tell him all about it, and probably re-enact Jackson’s re-enactment for his benefit the moment there was a lull in calls. </p><p>Angela watched him as she watched his last rookie. “Just think about what I said,” she said quietly. </p><p>He just gathered by his barely eaten lunch and walked away.</p><p>~~~</p><p>“Where’s Tim?” Jackson asked a few nights later after a particularly hard shift found the usual crew minus one assembled for beers.</p><p>“He said he had somewhere to be,” Lucy answered. He hadn’t been forthcoming with any details. </p><p>“He’s at dinner with Isabel,” Angela answered unhappily. She only hoped he wasn’t about to do something monumentally stupid.</p><p>“What?” Lucy’s beer bottle paused halfway to her mouth.</p><p>“Ex-wife, Isabel?” John Nolan asked confusion marring his face.</p><p>“Do you know any other Isabel?” Nyla Harper asked, sending a sharp look in his direction.</p><p>“Chen, come, buy me a drink,” Angela announced standing up from her seat and indicating for Lucy to follow her.</p><p>Lucy didn’t move, just stared at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head, “you make significantly more money than I do.”</p><p>“Now, Chen!” She used her TO voice. </p><p>“Yes, ma’am.” She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, even as she got up and followed Lopez to the bar.</p><p>She quickly gave the bartender her drink order, before turning her attention fully to Lucy. “I’m going to talk to you and then I am out of this mess since no one is listening to me despite the fact that I am literally right about all of it.”</p><p>“Ohh-kay.” </p><p>“I know that Talia gave you the ‘don’t sleep with other cops, it'll brand you for life’ speech. She gave the speech to pretty much every female cop on the force.”</p><p>“Okay,” Lucy repeated, still not entirely sure what was happening.</p><p>“She was right,” Lopez admitted. “Partially. What Talia couldn’t or wouldn’t understand is that they’re going to judge us no matter what. The good old boys who still think this is a man’s job? Judging us no matter what. The other women on the job who aren’t as good a cop as us? Judging us no matter what. If we sleep with other cops, we’re easy. If we don’t sleep with them it’s because we think we’re too good for them.”</p><p>“I’m not sleeping with anyone.” She hoped to dispel whatever rumor Angela had apparently heard about her.</p><p>“Look, Lucy, anyone with eyes can see what’s building between you and Tim. It’s been building for a while. You both have been through a lot, so it’s not a surprise to you that life is really fucking hard all of the time. Even when things are good, and you’re happy or at the very least content, it’s still hard. Grab your happiness where you can.” She nodded her thanks to the bartender when he sat their drinks down in front of them.</p><p>“Angela.” She didn’t even know what she wanted to say.</p><p>“You get Tim, and you like him. Not many people can say that.” She laughed, knowing the moment was getting heavy and needed lightening. “He gets you too and he likes you. The people who are going to judge you are not your people, Chen. </p><p>“I know.” It felt inadequate for the conversation they were having.</p><p>“Grab your happiness where you can,” Angela repeated, “it’ll make your life easier when it sucks and the good parts even better.” She took a long drink of her beer. “And now I’m out of this.” She started back to their table but turned around, “one more thing. Don’t be fucking gross about it at work. No one wants to see you make out with Tim or anyone at roll call. Don’t let it interfere at all with the job.”</p><p>“You’re a real poet, Ange,” Lucy said laughing as she followed her friend back to their table.</p><p>~~~</p><p>“I wasn’t sure you’d agree to see me,” Isabel admitted. She’d sensed his hesitation when she had finally worked up the nerve to call him. </p><p>“You said it was important.” He’d almost taken Angela’s advice and said no when Isabel had called later that same night. It had been on the tip of his tongue, but he’d known saying no would always leave him with questions. And he couldn’t have even the hint of unanswered questions.</p><p>When she had texted him yesterday suggesting the same expensive French restaurant where they’d had their first date all those years ago, he had known, deep down, Angela had been very right about what Isabel’s intentions were. </p><p>She took a nervous sip of water, keeping her hand wrapped around the cool glass, even after placing it back on the table. “Do you remember our first date?” That first night, much like tonight, she had stood in front of her closet trying on every outfit she had owned, obsessively studying her reflection in the mirror, wanting so badly to get it right. </p><p>“It was a good night.” He took a sip of his own water. The candlelight had danced over her face, much like it was now. Back then he was sure he’d never seen anything or anyone more beautiful. She was still beautiful, and there was an undeniable healthy glow back on her face. He hadn’t been sure what he would feel seeing her this way, what it would stir in him. What came to the surface was relief at seeing her truly healthy. </p><p>“I’m on stable ground now. More so than I was when you came to see me at the rehab.” She had been on her way that Valentine's Day, but not ready to focus on anything or anyone. Only able to literally put one foot in front of the other and take one moment at a time to focus on healing.</p><p>“I’m glad.” She deserved stable ground.</p><p>She took a deep breath and another quick sip of water. “I let you walk away then because I needed to get here.”</p><p>The waiter appearing with their food gave him a second to think about how he wanted to respond. “It hurt that you couldn’t get healthy with me, but I think it told us what we needed to know about the state of our marriage.”</p><p>She put down the fork she had just picked up. “We could try again. Now.” She felt strong enough. Felt like she deserved a second chance with him, and could finally make amends for how she had trashed their marriage. “I go to meetings, and therapy, and…”</p><p>“Isabel.” He cut her off gently. “I’m happy that you are healthy and sober and building a new life for yourself. I am, truly, but I’ve been moving forward, and I want to keep doing that.” For so long a sober and happy Isabel telling him she was ready to come home had been the only thing that got him out of bed in the morning, the only thing he wanted in his life. He had never imagined a moment where she wanted another chance and he didn’t. Somewhere along the line, he’d just stopped picturing moments of any kind with her.</p><p>If he was going to be unflinchingly honest with himself that had stopped when he’d started picturing moments of any kind with Lucy.</p><p>“It’s Lucy, right?” Her voice was soft, resigned, but not angry.</p><p>He blinked at how well she had managed to read him. “What?”</p><p>“You’re moving forward with Lucy.” There had been some part of her that had known the night Lucy called to ask her how Tim had best learned at the academy where his relationship with his rookie was headed. “You deserve to be happy. I could tell she cared about you.” After everything she had put him through she couldn’t begrudge him happiness. </p><p>“Lucy and I aren’t…This isn’t about…” <em>Wasn’t it though,<em>he asked himself silently.</em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>Lucy sat on her couch a pint of ice cream in her lap and the remote in her hand. She had ducked out of the bar early, not long after her talk with Angela, claiming a headache. There was so much to process, and she couldn’t do it in a bar surrounded by her friends, who happened to be very capable cops. </p><p>
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</p><p>It wasn’t terribly late, but already her TV viewing options were limited to infomercials and reruns of Law and Order SVU or Chicago PD. The incoming chime of a text message delayed her decision. She grabbed her phone to see a text from Jackson, <em>“planning to stay the night at Ster’s. You’ll be okay?”<em></em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>She reached for the remote again when the phone chimed again. <em>“Don’t think about watching anything on the DVR without me. You’re terrible at faking surprise, so I’ll def know. And don’t finish my ice cream.” <em></em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>“I’m not that bad.” She grumbled to herself. She looked down at the almost empty ice cream carton in her lap and only felt a little guilt. <em>“I’ll buy you more.”<em> She added the shoulder shrugging, ice cream, and heart emoji for good measure before pushing send.</em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>She tossed her phone aside and settled on an old school rerun of Law and Order SVU. She pulled the pink throw blanket down from the back of the couch to cover her lap and had just burrowed under it comfortably when she heard the knock. “Seriously.” She mumbled under her breath as she threw the blanket off and trudged to the door. </p><p>
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</p><p>A glance through the peephole showed Tim standing outside her door. She took a step back for a second before looking again. “Come on, Boot, open the door. I know you’re home, I can hear the TV.”</p><p>
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</p><p>She opened the door but didn’t step back to let him in just yet. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a date with Isabel?”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Keeping tabs on me, Boot.” He couldn’t keep a cocky smirk from his face.</p><p>
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</p><p>“Angela might have mentioned.” </p><p>
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</p><p>“Can I come in?”</p><p>
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</p><p>With a sigh, she stepped back and opened the door wider before closing it behind him. She motioned for him to take a seat on the couch. “Can I interest you in an episode from the Elliot Stabler years?”</p><p>
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</p><p>He looked at the TV skeptically. “We do this job all day and then you come home and watch cop dramas?” She was constantly surprising him. </p><p>
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</p><p>“Sometimes. Especially when they’re from the Elliot Stabler years, and I’ve been forbidden from watching anything that airs on Bravo. You want anything from the kitchen?” When he shook his head no, she sat down on the opposite end of the couch, tucked her legs up under her, and turned to face him. “You come here just to critique my taste in TV or…”</p><p>
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</p><p>He looked over at Lucy wanting to remember how she looked in this exact moment. Hair falling in soft, loose waves around her face. Face scrubbed clean of makeup. Oversized UCLA sweatshirt falling off one shoulder. Black pajama shorts just peeking out under the hem of the shirt. He now knew he had never seen anything or anyone more beautiful than Lucy was in this exact moment. </p><p>
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</p><p>“Are you okay?” She finally asked when he didn’t speak. They saw each other more regularly outside of work now that they weren’t riding together. They’d grab drinks a couple of nights a week with the others. They’d go hiking with Cujo, and sometimes those outings led to a pre or post-hike meal together. Stopping over unannounced at 11 pm? That wasn’t something they routinely did. “Tim?”</p><p>
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</p><p>“It wasn’t a date. Just dinner.” He finally told her. Isabel had hoped it would be a date, and maybe he’d expected it to feel like a date once he was sitting across a table from a version of Isabel so much like one he’d married. It never had though. “I needed to see her healthy and on a good path.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Angela reminded me that I was on a good path too. I told Isabel that I was happy for her, but that I want to keep moving forward.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Moving forward is good.” She leaned forward to look into the ice cream carton she’d placed on the coffee table when she had gotten up to answer the door. Her nose wrinkled in disappointment upon seeing what little had been left was now totally melted. She got up to throw the carton away and put her spoon in the sink. “I’m proud of you.” She told him as she came to sit back down.</p><p>
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</p><p>“She told me that life is hard. Even when it’s good and you’re happy, it’s still hard, and that you should grab your happiness when you can.” She wanted to reach for him or scoot closer on the couch, but she stayed where she was.</p><p>
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</p><p>“Lucy.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“She also told me that the people who are going to judge me are going to find a reason to judge me no matter what. So, I shouldn’t let them dictate my happiness, because they aren’t my people.” She worried her lower lip between her teeth nervously. “I feel happiest when I’m sitting next to you on a bench, drinking coffee, and watching our dog chase a ball. Or at the bar when you make me recount all of the day's calls just to make sure I’m retaining all your training.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Your dog,” He grumbled good-naturedly, “And I need to know you're safe without me watching your back.”</p><p>
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</p><p>He reached for her and pulled her to him, covering his mouth with hers. His mouth moved hungrily over hers, his hands found their way into her hair. He tore his mouth away from hers, “I’d practiced all the things I wanted to say on the way over here. I was going to try hard to be emotionally available.” He grinned. </p><p>
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</p><p>“I want to hear all your words. But, it turns out, Officer Bradford, I’m also a very tactile learner.” Lucy initiated their second kiss with just as much hunger, letting her hands roam over his chest and shoulders. She broke their kiss just long enough to climb into his lap and straddle him. She framed his face in her hands, “<em>your<em> dog going to be okay if you stay a little longer?</em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>“We’ll take him for a long hike in the morning to make up for it.” He lowered his lips to her collarbone, before ghosting kisses up her neck, and finding her mouth again.</p><p>
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